Active projects

Directed by : Daniela Jopp & Anna-Rita Stoffel

Most people want to become old, but nobody wants to be old. Nonetheless, reaching very old age has already become a new reality in most developed countries, with the very old representing the fastest growing group of the population.

Directed by: Stéphane Cullati, Piet Bracke, Claudine Burton-Jeangros, Sorana Toma

This research project aims to understand how health and social policies can reduce social and life course inequalities in preventive healthcare practices during middle and early old age. Preventive practices, like cancer screening, are crucial for healthy aging, but inequalities in accessing these practices have remained persistent in high-income countries for decades.

Directed by : Nicky Le Feuvre & Isabelle Zinn

By exploring different interrelated aspects of gendered ageing at work through the lens of menopause as a socially and institutionally embedded experience, HAWK will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the impact of ageing on women’s experiences at work and will reveal their diverse coping strategies.

Directed by : Andreas Ihle

In the near future, our aging societies will have to face a dramatic increase in the number of dementia cases. Addressing this crucial public health challenge, the cognitive reserve concept postulates that early and lifelong experiences determine individuals’ capacity to cope with cognitive pathologies in subsequent life phases.

Directed by : Roberta Antonini Philippe, Fabrice Brodard, Jacques-Antoine Gauthier, Tina Stahel

This research project aims to study the relationships and experiences of young people in sport. These relationships and experiences can be built around camaraderie, mutual support and shared interests.

Directed by : Dimitri Konstantas, Katarzyna Wac & Matthias Kliegel

AGE-INT is the largest national research project to address the challenges and opportunities of demographic change in a practical manner with a trans- and interdisciplinary project team in the three largest language regions of Switzerland. The objective of the project is to identify knowledge and examples of best practices in selected priority areas, both nationally and internationally, and to make them visible and accessible for a broad public and decision makers.

Directed by : Andreas Ihle

The Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele is a major genetic risk factor for pathological cognitive development in old age. Potentially relevant in this regard, the cognitive reserve concept postulates that early and lifelong experiences, including educational and occupational attainment, and leisure activities throughout the lifespan, determine the individual’s capacity to cope with cognitive pathologies.

Directed by : Jürgen Maurer

This project will analyze existing and new (to be collected) data related to end-of-life planning of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), a nationally representative survey of adults aged 50 years and older living in Switzerland.

Directed by : Daniela Jopp, Stefano Cavalli, François Richard Herrmann, Armin von Gunten

This Swiss-wide study of centenarians - SWISS100 - examines the risks, strengths and specific needs of today's very elderly population in Switzerland and helps us to prepare for the future. The study includes a sample of Swiss centenarians and their representatives from the three main language regions.

Directed by : Paolo Ghisletta

This research is inspired by the profound demographic changes that have become increasingly acute in the past decades. With substantial gains in life expectancy, the World population is rapidly aging, and in the industrialized nations, older adults are progressively becoming the dominant part of the population. In parallel, the Western nations are experiencing a concomitant reduction in the incidence of dementia. Thus, the need for understanding normative aging comes to the fore.

Directed by : Raphaël Lalive

The Covid-19 pandemic has inflicted a lot of mental and economic pain on the world. Both the illness itself, and the fear of contracting the illness generate distress, but so do the lockdown and social distancing measures to contain the spread of the virus. As vaccines against the virus are becoming available, the immediate and most important consequences of Covid-19 on health systems could soon be averted, but key challenges remain. This project proposes new evidence on the role of policies vs the illness in shaping mental health, and how information and cognition training support job finding in a labor market scarred by the crisis.

Directed by : Dario Spini and Alain Plattet

Involve residents in the organization of their city. This is at the heart of the "Cause Commune" project, which the LIVES Centre is carrying out in collaboration with the City of Chavannes-près-Renens

Directed by : Rafael Lalive & Fabrizio Colella

The project analyzes the behavior of firms, workers, and job seekers during the pandemic and sheds light on how the Covid-19 pandemic changed global trade and consequently the Swiss labor market.

Directed by : Eric Widmer, Eva Nada, Marlène Sapin, Gil Viry, Ivan de Carlo & Myriam Girardin 

Educational and occupational choices are not made by individuals in isolation but, on the contrary, in interaction with significant members of their personal networks, particularly friends and family. However, the importance of the social capital generated by these networks for educational pathways and entry into working life remains largely unexplored in Switzerland. The proposed research aims to identify the links between the professional and educational situation of young adults in Switzerland, their personal networks and the social capital that these networks generate.

Directed by : Andrea Rea, Racapé Judith, Raynault Marie-France, Yves-Laurent Jackson & Claudine Burton-Jeangros

This G3 project aims to highlight research conducted on the effects of social and health inequalities on the transmission of COVID-19 in order to prepare an in-depth and interdisciplinary comparative study of the effects of these measures on vulnerable populations in Montreal, Geneva, and Brussels.

Directed by : Emilie Rosenstein, Aline Duvoisin, Nicolas Pons-Vignon & Matthias Studer

From spring 2020, Covid-19 increased socio-economic inequality as never before. But little is known about its long-term consequences. The project investigates how social policy was redefined to mitigate effects of the pandemic.

Directed by : Marieke Voorpostel, Núria Sánchez-Mira, Stephanie Steinmetz & Leen Vandecasteele

This project will analyse how the pandemic affected young people’s wellbeing, looking at who the groups most at risk were and examining policies and programmes put in place to support young people during this period.

Directed by Georges Guiella & Clémentine Rossier

This model aims to assess the impact of contraceptive use on the empowerment of women aged 15 to 49, using recent longitudinal PMA data and sequential analysis. It will focus on three West African countries (Burkina Faso, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire) and two East African countries (Uganda and Kenya).